Gollum

it's not a matter of when can it MAKE full boost, it's about how much air the engine needs to maintain a speed. I can make 7psi by 2000 rpm going uphill in 5th, but that doesn't mean driving at 2000psi I'm anywhere near 0hg/psi. Manifold vacuum is directly related to how much air is going into the engine. If you're at 0psi just cruising then you've got some serious load going on. Remember, turbos are a dynamic power adder. They're in no way connected to the engine, and driven by gas/thermodynamics. If the engine isn't moving air the turbo doesn't spin and create PSI.

Well, drove her to work and exactly as expected she got me there in one piece, and warm too! Feels weird sitting a good 6 inches or more higher off the road than usual.

I thought I had a thread I posted pictures in, but I can't find it. Anyways, 4 months later I FINALLY get the title to this baby!!!! Went to DMV to find out the damage on the back registration (tags were 03' or something), and the lovely lady at the DMV office informed me it was non-op!!!! WAHOOO HAPPY DANCE!!! She made my day. I gave her a check for $105 to cover tax/licensing/title transfer, all that jazz and went on my merry way. I just got a car in my name for a total cost of $105! The car even had 1/2 a tank when I origonally picked it up, that's like $30 right there. Now that I know what I really spent by taking this car off this guys hands, she looks just that much better. I think I'm going to go for a drive tonight.

With correct fuel tuning removing back pressure won't loose low end power, I guarentee it. One of the big reasons why on cars like the newer mustangs (especially the new 3 valve) changing exhaust parts looses low end power is that they've lost all the factory scavenging tuning that was done for the lower RPM. Kenne Bell is a big preacher about how he doesn't change exhaust on a 03/04 cobra, or even the new GT500 until he's WELL beyond 600hp, usually around 800hp. The stock exhaust FLOWS that well. And when I say FLOWS I mean has very LITTLE backpressure. Kenne Bell has research papers on his website showing supercharged mustangs at over 500hp with less than 1.5psi backpressure. That's insanely LOW!!! And by the time you get to 3psi in the exhaust, and then remove backpressure he's gaining HP in ALL RPM. Remember, backpressure does nothing in reality. The effects of what's causing the backpressure DOES! A header might create backpressure, but it also might be helping the exhaust pulses line up just right to recieve good torque at a lower RPM. Does that mean backpressure is good? No. It means the backpressure is a result of an exhaust designed for a particular RPM. I'm just saying your termonology is wrong IMO. I agree that by cutting off the exhaust they would loose some low RPM power, but with the right tuning I'm sure all the power could be recovered. And backpressure on a turbo car?! You're kidding me right? Please explain how backpressure even MIGHT be good for a turbo car? I can maybe understand under certain muffle designs that a certain amount of backpressure migh be required to get the exhaust pulses to resonate just right through it, but in an open exhaust system on a turbo, you want to eliminate as much backpressure as possible. If backpressure was in any way good, we could just use large pipes and crush bend them. But that's not the case. What people do is use the RIGHT sizes pipes for a given RPM range, and then MANDREL bend them for as little back pressure as possible.

Well I've got a stock T3 and I can get to well over 80mph and still be in vacuum, hence why I thought the post was wierd.

The tough thing about the mustang lights is that without something in the center it might look kinda plain. The upside is that they're easy to find, but that also means people will know exactly where they came from. I like the idea of ford tail lights on a car powered by a SBC... don't ask me why because I don't know. Even if I don't like the engine it screams hybridZ all over the place. The 300ZX tail light panel is a great idea, but hard to make fit right. It's not a flush panel they're mounted to, so making it look right would be difficult. But the bus lights... blaa. It's not that I don't like the round tail light look on the S30, I just hate how cheap some people's lights look. If you do it right and use corvette lights or something similar then you have my blessing. I still like the idea of GT500 type tail lights, wide narrow vintage looking lights that look meaty.

It's about the same length as a 4 liter V8... Now VQ35, THAT is far back. Though maybe Aux's rotory takes the cake for farthest back and down motor.

Thank you, that's exactly what I want to hear. I'll be going for a lean as I can get tune, even if that means megasquirt to get there. Even at 35mpg, a tall rear end and weigh reduction should get me the rest of the way to my goal. Thanks for the links too.

We don't really have a space for discussion on non-Z related cars without it being in the non-tech. So I hope this fits well enough here. Well, in about 6 months to a year I plan to make the switch from daily driving my Z to another car, especially if gas continues to rise. No, I'm not an idiot, I won't be buying something EXPENSIVE in order to SAVE at the pump. That's just dumb. I'm look at real operating costs. What does it cost to fix the car, how hard is it to come by parts, and how much does it cost to get the car in the first place? One of the other main reasons I'm considering this is that the Z won't carry a 4x12 guitar cabinet (roughly 30"x30"x15"). So I need something that can carry some cargo too. My first choices were the CRX HF and the Geo Metro. The Geo is butt ugly. Probably worse even, but those words are sensored around here. The CRX is nice, but the gate design isn't easy to get things in and out of obviously, and hondas are stolen and broken into around here twice as often as any other make. If I'm going to have expensive gear in it I want it to be at least semi less obvious to break into. So sleeper points are good. And I was kinda liking the idea of something presmog. This would allow me to basically do whatever I want in the realm of tuning for gas mileage and not worry about the legal consequences. Some of the old toyotas were interesting, but I keep being drawn to the 510. I know my way around nissan parts a heck of a lot better than anything else, and the 510 can use quite a few parts from other nissan vehicles from the same era. It's light enough of a base at 2250 pounds or so, and even if the trunk isn't big enough for my cabinet, it won't have much of any interior, so it can do in the passanger seat, rear area, or I can even do some cutting and reinforcing around the trunk to rear seat area. And power? I'm still not sure, but I was thinking KA. I'm not sure yet if the SOHC or DOHC would be a better option, but the more drop in it is the better. Reading around it looks like I'll either have to cut and reweld the x-member 180 degrees, which removes the ability to use the stock sway bar, or make a custom oil pan for the motor. I think the SOHC motors use the Z style tranny, and the DOHC uses the SR20 style tranny. I might be wrong. But if that's the case I might go SOHC just for the simplier tranny setup, as from what I understand the Z tranny is nearly bolt in using the Z tranny mount. My goal will be to get the weight down to around 1700 or less, even using lexan in the rear areas if I have to in order to get there. I'd like to reach about 40-45mpg real world tank averages. Even with a stock KA24E it should scoot just fine, as it will still have a good 30+ hp more than stock, more torque by more than that, and quite a bit less weight. I'm also still kinda curious if there's a better option for the engine choice. As far as I know, one of the main factors in gas mileage other than tune, is VE at cruising RPM. More power isn't always better, if it comes at the expense of adding more air, or more fuel. You want to make as much power as possible for a given air/fuel quantity at cruising RPM. Obviously the leaner you can get the engine to run the better, but if power suffers too much you'll just be increasing throttle in order to make up for the power difference, adding in more air and fuel, bringing fuel usage back up to what it was before leaning it out. The goal is get as much energy out of the fuel added as possible, not getting as much power out of an amount of air as possible (a racer's goal). So a high torque/displacement ratio is what we're looking for. This thread will be as much for me expressing plans as they change, and what I learn in the process as it will be for people adding in their own ideas and opinions. For instance, if I can find more data on the old datsun trucks based off the car platform, that might sway me. But the huge owner/modifier base of the 510 makes it appealing.

Seems like it might be useful for say, a street car that also endures severe track conditions. It's ability to increase downforce under only certain conditions is nice, but any adjustable wing could do that, so why the split? To me it seems like it's more of an anti-roll device than anything else. As stated, more total grip is better than less on the more desired side. Though if you're running soft suspension with mild sway bars (or none at all) with an open rear diff... This seems like it might have a pretty nice effect. But for a purpose built racer it doesn't seem very logical to me. Anyone have an educated guess as too how much it will be able to afftect front tire traction? I wonder if it might help reduce understeer on corner exit, or create it? We know that if we just add a big wing to the back of a Z it lifts the front up quite a bit, so will adding downforce on the inside rear lift the inside front? If so that could be BAD. Adding more downforce overall just seems simpler and more beneficial.

Cars Include: 93' Mustang Cobra 88' Mustang GT 98' WRX RS 89' CRX w/B16A 91' CRX w/B16A 03' Mustang Cobra 04' WRX STI 95' Mustang GT 97' Q45 I mean, the list goes on. I'm talking about OEM guages that never experieced ANY bounce other than maybe in 1st gear between 0-10mph, most notably the CRX OEM guage. Most of these cars had been over 100mph with no needle bounce and decent accuracy. I wouldn't trust them within 5% obviously, but not absurdly off. The only ones that I think might have been electronic on that list would be the 03' Cobra and the Q45. I'm not sure about those.

I highly suggest you read this: http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_product/sue462/backpressuretorquemyth.htm Your comment is borderline heresy. Backpressure alone doesn't create ANY power what so ever. Backpressure from things like tube sizing, bends, and muffles only hurt power and torque in all RPM. Well designed headers and fuel tuning will give you peak exhaust tuning RPM for a given application.

The hood looks mustang-ish. That'd be my guess.

Anyone else care to comment on this? I have a stock engine/turbo with the same late 280ZX 5 speed with 3.545 rear gears, and I've gone well over 80 without getting near boost. Does the RPM make that huge of a difference? Because the load/RPM ratio is different, and the amount of power required to propell the car at 80mph doesn't change no matter what RPM you're at. So it comes down to volumetric efficiency. And to be at 0hg at 80mph I think you must be at a much lower VE than I've ever reached on the freeway... I might have some of this backwards, I just found it odd stumbling upon a post like this, as I've only ever hit boost when putting the engine under load. ...maybe my wastegate is cracked open?

I'm not sure I want to buy an autometer guage now (not that I was planning to). I've had several OEM guages up to that speed and beyond and they didn't bounce....

Hey I get it! I'm really tired right now, but I get what you're saying. That might work, but I'd have to make the joint closer down by where I currently have the injectors. Why? The injectors are already getting really far away from the head, and low RPM power and drivability will start to suffer. Remember, I'm going for that nice broad power band for street driving. Ok, as far as valve cover clearence.... dun Dun DUNNN Are you ready? I've measured. I'm quite sure this is an accurate measurement within a 1/10th of an inch or so. If you remove the oil cap the clearence between the highest point on the valve cover at the cap and the hood is right at 2". From there clearence gets EASY as the engine slants backwards.

With a forklift you can adjust left/right placement of both forks AND the up/down pitch. There's plenty of things down there to lift off of that would hold up fine. I think you guys are being a bit anal. You should see how most shops use their 4 point lifts...

As far as the flanges go, I was planning on cutting off a stock one and welding to it. But the injectors just wont' fit in the space I'm trying to maintain. I don't want the runners going way out to make space for the stock injector location. Any increase in runner length on the turbo side is added time the air gets put through hot aluminum. That stock LD intake would be a GEM of a base to work off of if the lower portion was shorted in half, and regular injectors could be used without much work. I have yet to ever see a LD28 in the junkyard though. Just not common around here.

I don't see anything wrong with lifting it with a fork lift as long as it's done carefully. I'd even say it's safer than a jack. Definately safer than a scissor type jack.

Ok, I just measured while on my lunch break. I didn't have a tape measure handy, so I had to eyeball it, but It looks like just in front of the oil cal there's just less than 2" (maybe right at 2") and behind the oil cap there's at least 2.5" or more. I'd already noticed the oil cap issue before, and I'm thinking the best route around that problem is to plug the hole and move it to somewhere else.

I remember that episode. I thought it was donated... I can't remember though. I don't think I ever mentioned this, but I've met grant on several occasions. He worked with the school my sister used to teach at, he was head of their robotics team. First time I met him he was trying to get me to help them out on their robotics team as a programmer. Super nice dude.

I've been liking this recent shot rudypoochris too. Came out well methinks.

I'll be able to verify clearence tomorrow. Stay tuned. I didn't bring up the balance tube, if you noticed. I only addressed the issue since it was brought up. But thanks for confirming my suspision, that it would destroy resonance effects.

Six shooter and others were right about space for the injectors, they just won't really work in the stock location. Oh well. So I modeled an injector that's pretty close to spec I think (going off of specs I got from MSD's website), and also modeled an injector boss. The main reason I didn't want to go this route was cost, but it's cheaper than I thought. I found bosses at many websites for well under $20 a piece, most around $14-$16. Idealy I'd like to find them for less than $10, as even $60 on bosses really hurts the $300 budget. I also modeled a clamp in there so I could get an idea of what clearence would look like. It's not bad. I'm still not sure I like the idea of clamps. Clamps mean that A) More cost I HAVE to make a braket to support the plenum side C) One more thing for air to catch on D) More cost! If someone can point me in the direction of a good junkyard clamp around the right size I'll see what I can find. Otherwise I'll be searching the net for something affordable. Oh, I almost forgot. The latest images:

I've thought about all that's been brought up, so sorry if I don't adress every little comment. Oil Cap ~ I think it'll be far enough forward to clear. I'm not positive on that yet, But it's a hope... LD28 Intake ~ I've seen the marine one that enters in the middle. Is that what you're talking about Daeron? I'd thought about having the TB flange in the middle, I just wonder if it was worth the extra inches of intercooler piping. Thinking more about it I think it is. Even distrobution will not just help keep the power smooth and safer, but should help low RPM driveability too. Balance tubes ~ I'd thought about this idea too, but I'm hesitant as I'm not sure how that will affect the induction wave runing of the runner length. Six Shooter ~ duh it's more involved. That was never the reason. I didn't think it would be LESS work, just a simpler, cleaner airflow design that reduces heat soak and makes the turbo easier to get to and work on. Remember as I said before, that I think not only will the plenum have less heat, but the turbo will get more air to it. The stock setup leaves very little room for the turbo to breathe. Though some would argue (rightfully so) that a heat blanket on the turbo would see almost all the same benefits. But where's the fun in that?